[NLRS] 10 GHz Cumulative First Weekend. (long)

[Gary M Danelius]

Hi all,

I  haven't seen many posts about last weekends
activities. Only Lenny and Bruce have told us about their fun.

I had a good time and a much better score than I thought I would.
My totals for Saturday were 24 contacts, 1689 distance points, 1000
unique call points for a total of 2689. Sunday I had 48 contacts,
2352 distance points and 600 unique call points for a total of 2952.
My two day total is 72 contacts, 4041 distance points and 1600
unique call points, total 5641. This about 300 points better than
my total for both weekends last year. Last year I had 102 contacts 
and 17 unique calls.

Saturday synopsis.

I started at Idell Ave, then on to New Trier, Cannon Falls, Vasa and 
finally Red Wing.

Saturday was very windy. I only had the tripod blow over once.
Fortunately
I was already holding on just to keep it in place. I did have a problem
with
the dish turning off the correct bearing during the big gusts. I can't
give
an accurate estimate of the wind, but I was having a hard time standing
in the back of the truck. 

I tried a number of times to raise Mel and Carol in SE MN. The only
time I heard them was on 144.260, while I was at Idell. Never did
hear them again.  I got tired of the wind and waiting at Cannon Falls.
As I was driving back to Hwy 52 I saw a truck and thought maybe that's
Mel and Carol. It wasn't. Just before I arrived at Hwy 52 I saw another
truck
with what looked like a 2M beam in the back. The driver flashed his
lights
and I knew it was Mel. We had a short talk. They went to HighView Rd and
I
left for Vasa. I did contact them from Vasa. They were pointed at the
cities, while I pointed toward them. The distance is only about 10 miles
so working them off the side of the dish was no problem. 

I had two skeds with Mike, KM0T, but didn't hear anything during the
first one
from Cannon Falls. I was running late and arrived just in time to listen.
It 
turns out the wind was so bad a Mike's that he didn't operate. Band 
conditions were so bad I don't think I would have been able to work 
him anyway.

I called it a day earlier than planned because of the wind and just
general
frustration with conditions. Nearly every signal was weak and hard to 
copy. It turns out I have a somewhat deaf receiver. Still, I worked
everyone
that I heard.

I figure I missed over 900 distance points on Saturday. Since I was 
running, I had to try to stay on my time schedule. That means I had
to leave some of the sites before I could get people on the other end
to try to work me. I missed FQA, GHZ and NAS at 35CG from Idell, 258
points.
I also missed them from New Trier, another 342  points.  From Cannon
Falls
I missed NAS at 35FE for 99 pts, and SHF, UK and KFC at 35JA for 186 pts.

Last I missed FQA in 35FE from Red Wing, another 99 pts.  Very
frustrating
to be the distant station and have to wait while the other end is busy
working
closer stations that will still be in place after I have left. We need to

coordinate better next time. 

Sunday synopsis.

Much nicer day. Clear skies, sunny and moderate temperatures.

I had a sked with Mike, KM0T at 7:30AM from Flying Cloud.
I found Mike right away. Much weaker than last time we worked him from
the
site. Peaked carefully, but he was still very weak. I figured I still had
a chance
since I wasn't hearing well. During my sequence I sent my info, he came
back
and we finished the Q. There was a fire burning across the river, near
Valley Fair.
Just like Donn, a few weeks ago, I could see the smoke rise, then flat
top and travel off to the SE. Pretty neat to see a temp inversion. Also
worked
Lenny from across the road. No one else was on, so I went to Mendota for
my 
second sked with Mike. I looked for Mike on the same frequency that I had
worked him earlier. Nothing heard. I thought I heard something weak up 
about 3 kHz, so I called there. I continued to tune and on the forth
sequence
found Mike with a very strong signal up another 4 kHz. Easy contact once
I found him.  Thanks Mike! Distance for the two contacts 291kM from
Flying 
Cloud and 312 kM from Mendota.

Worked the locals from Mendota and then moved to Burnsville for more
locals. Went to Mounds Park to work the only one still running, Lenny.

Later, a group of us went to the High Bridge to work WBFM back to  
Mounds Park with the new ops who had recently arrived. Lots of
frustration. 
Some of the equipment didn't work and three of us wanted to get 
done and back on the road.

I went to Idell again. Worked the NB guys at Mounds Park and gave the
WBFM
ops another Q. Next was New Trier were I worked everyone but TZA and ZEV,
both are on WBFM. WBFM signals were poor this time. Last year I worked 
everyone easily from New Trier. That was the end of the WBFM for the day.
More missed contacts. Just as I was getting ready to leave, a truck,
which had gone by earlier, pulled up and stopped. Two young guys got 
out to talk. Turns out one of them owns the corn field that is by the 
pull off we use. I told him what I was doing and he was satisfied that I
wasn't a threat to his crops. He said have fun and they left. I wish I
could
have made a contact for them while they were there.

I also traveled to Cannon Falls and then Vasa. Not to many people left by

this time. Thanks to Gary, GHZ, Doug, NAS, Lenny, SHF, Donn, VOI, and
Mel, KC0P, for staying around. I don't know why but I couldn't work
Lenny or Doug from Vasa. Nothing was heard on either end. At this point
it's after 6PM and I've been going for over 12 hours, so we called it a
day.

Thanks to Lenny, SHF, for 14 contacts, Gary, GHZ, for 9 contacts and to
Mel and Carol for coming up from Rochester.

I am looking forward to the second weekend. I will run the local sites
again
if we stay in town. However, I would like to work the North Shore at
least
one or yet better both days

73, Gary  WB0LJC.







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